Mitchell Cole, who scored in the first final to be held at the new Wembley stadium, has died at the age of 27. Cole had been forced to retire as a professional player in February last year because of a heart condition. He suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is an irregular thickness of the heart in certain areas.

The Football League's official Twitter feed said: "We are sad to hear former Southend, Stevenage and Oxford player Mitchell Cole has passed away. Our thoughts are with his family and friends."

Cole, who was married to the sister of the Liverpool midfielder Joe Cole, joined West Ham's youth academy as a teenager and, following his release, went on to carve out a career in the lower leagues. He scored for Stevenage against Kidderminster at Wembley in the 2007 FA Trophy final and also helped the club secure promotion to the Football League in 2010. He then moved to Oxford where he quit as a professional last year, saying he would be risking death if he were to play again.

In an interview with the Sun, Cole said: "A few players around the world die of this every year. The specialists told me that every day I have a 1% chance of dropping dead and sport quadruples that risk. When he gave me the numbers and showed me images of my heart, it hit me hard."

Despite retiring from the professional game, he did make a handful of non-league appearances, some of which came for Arlesey Town. However, according to their director of football, Gary King, watching the former Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba suffer a cardiac arrest in an FA Cup tie with Tottenham in March convinced Cole to give up the game for good.

King said: "We were watching that game in the clubhouse and he turned to me and said 'I'm not playing again', although I'm told he might have been playing five-a-side in London last night."

Cole had tweeted on Friday about playing football. On mitchcole21 he wrote: "London tonight for the usual kick about with the lads!"

The PFA joined the Football League in expressing its condolences, tweeting: "The PFA is deeply saddened by the loss of 27-year-old Mitchell Cole, our thoughts are with his friends and family."